The next
morning we returned to Cangas and took the winding road up to
Covadonga, a place of pilgrimage with a shrine in a cave, and where
King Pelayo defeated the Moors, a significant victory at the beginning
of Spanish history. There is a massive basilica and coachloads
of
tourists arrive daily. The road climbs further into the mountains to
the lakes of Enol and Ercina but again we were defeated by the low
clouds and swirling mists so we retraced our route to Cangas.
There are few main roads leading to the
interior of the Picos and most
of the walking routes require some serious trekking, but the main road
down the western flank is an impressive but slow drive through
the gorge of the Desfiladero de los Bayos said to be the narrowest
gorge
with a road through it in Europe. Luckily we only met about a
dozen
cars in the 35 mile journey before the road climbed over the Peurto del
Pontón (1290m) to the rebuilt town of Riaño surrounded by a large
reservoir and mountain peaks where we found a pleasant picnic
place by
an old chapel.
Riaño chapel
From there the road north east steadily climbed across open
moorland up to the Peurto de son Gloria
(1609m) suddenly
opening out to a terrific view across
the mountains and the very long descent into a deep valley and the town
of Potes, the main centre for the eastern Picos. We stayed
at Camping La
Viorna , within walking
distance of the town where there was a large tower, now the town hall,
a fine church
and crowds of people in the gift shops.
Potes Pilgrim statue
The next day we drove up to the blind valley of
Fuente Dé
and took the cable car 750 metres up to the plateau where
luckily
the clouds lifted for a while and we were surprised to find horses and
cattle grazing on the rough meadows. We watched a couple of local men
with a dog take the zigzag path up the cliff face but
eventually
they were out of sight behind a rock bluff. A truly impressive place.
After
a lazy afternoon and a peaceful night we drove through another narrow
gorge, the Desfiladero de la Hermida to join the main coast road
heading east. The small resorts and beaches were very busy and we
realised that it was a bank holiday weekend and we reached a large
campsite at Ruiloba, a few miles inland from the resort of Comillas. On
a short stroll from the site we met a young American couple, on their
honeymoon, following the Camino de Santiago. They had only set off a
couple of days previously and had never done long distance walking
before! We wished them well and hoped they managed to reach their
destination.
Comillas is worth a visit as it has some
interesting sights as well as a pleasant sandy beach. A place we wanted
to see was the villa, El Capricho, designed by Gaudi which had an
amazing exterior with sunflower motif tiles and superb interior with
wood carvings and stained glass windows. It is open to the
public
on certain days and also used for private functions. Nearby there were
several other large mansions and the town is overlooked by the massive
Universidad Pontifica which is approached by a Gaudi designed
gateway.
Sunflower
tiles
El Capricho window
Universidad Pontifica - Gaudi gateway
With just one night left before catching the ferry from Bilbao we set
off the next morning along the main road to Santillana del
Mar
which isn't actually on the coast. The town is a major tourist hotspot
but wasn't too crowded when we arrived mid morning and being a
Monday some of the attractions were closed. Once past the gift
shops and the museum of torture, the old town centre with its golden
sandstone churches and mansions is quite picturesque.
Santillana del Mar
mansion
From there we headed east to Torrelavega for our final top-up shop but
ended up in a Lidl as the large supermarkets had height barriers. We
took the free autopista for a short distance then a busy and narrow
straight road to avoid Santander and turned off to look at
Laredo,
a sprawling resort of flats and hotels on a massive sandy bay with low
dunes. Many roads leading to the beach had height barriers but we
managed to find one that as open for a lunch stop and short stroll
along the deserted prom. We
rejoined the motorway which passed through pleasant hilly countryside
and turned off to the small town of Islares and the campsite at Playa
Arenillas, a useful night stop by a small rocky cove, for our last
night in Spain.
It
was an easy drive of about 25 miles along the free autopista to the
ferryport at Bilbao which was well signposted, to catch the Brittany
Ferries Cap Finistere and a calm 24 hour crossing to
Portsmouth.